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In the updated, fourth edition of this classic text which has been translated into over a dozen languages, constitutional scholar and Columbia Law School professor E. Allan Farnsworth provides a clear explanation of the structure and function of the U.S. legal system in one handy reference.

An Introduction to the Legal System of the United States, Fourth Edition is designed to be a general introduction to the structure and function of the legal system of the United States, and is especially useful for those readers who lack familiarity with fundamental establishments and practices.

This text also gives the reader a clear understanding of how to research the law, the importance of case law versus statutes, and the difference between private and public law. It illustrates issues that may be confusing or troublesome and provides a solid general overview. It includes a new introduction by Steve Sheppard.

An Introduction to the Legal System of the United States provides a brief and easy-to-understand introduction to the legal system of the United States for a wide and general audience. It allows those unfamiliar with the structures and sometime difficult intricacies of the U.S. legal system to understand the various aspects of the law, including the importance of case law, and private and public law.

Author E. Allan Farnsworth, (1928-2005) was the distinguished Alfred McCormack Professor of Law at Columbia University and renowned for his scholarship on American contract law, among other topics. His lectures throughout the U.S., and his many articles, brought clarity and a much larger degree of uniformity to the commercial law of the fifty states. He was the author of numerous best-selling books and publications.

Editor Steve Sheppard is the William H. Enfield Professor of Law at University of Arkansas School of Law. He has written widely on legal history and legal philosophy and is the co-author of American Law in a Global Context: The Basics with George P. Fletcher (Oxford University Press, 2005) and editor of Bramble Bush: The Classic Lectures on the Law and Law School (Oxford University Press 2008).